Shield Defense/Rad Melee Tanker

[BuiltDifferent5]

Radiation Melee seems intriguing to me, although I hate the animation of Proton Sweep and Devastating Blow 😂 I DO love Atom Smashers animation and will absolutely add a chance to KD proc in it just for the epicness.

 

Thinking of pairing with Shield, since it brings a nice heal to Shield and AAO can help ramp Rad’s damage. Wondering if I could just run an attack chain of Smash - Siphon - Atom Smasher and mix in epic attacks/cross punch with a proc’d out IG doing (although I heard there were changes to it a while back)?

 

The fact that it can slot so many procs (including -res) seems promising.

 

Anyone have experience with it on a Tanker? How do you like it? How does it compare to the Shield/DM (which seems like the closest comparison I guess).

[Erratic1]

Allow me to caution you on this power combination. You will need at some point to do something about Endurance sustain/recovery because Rad Melee is hungry as goes endurance and Shield does nothing to help you in that department. 

 

This is far from saying, "Don't do it" just you may want to carefully consider your slotting, set choices (with an eye toward endurance cost reduction and recovery) and possibly Epic powerset choice.

 

On the upside, it will not nearly be so...challenging...as say Dark Armor/Rad Melee--the path for those who hate the concept of endurance.

[BuiltDifferent5]

Thanks for this call out @Erratic1! Would you say Rad Melee is one of the more end intensive sets, along with Battle Axe and Stone Melee?

Edited February 25 by BuiltDifferent5

[Erratic1]

9 hours ago, BuiltDifferent5 said:

Thanks for this call out @Erratic1! Would you say Rad Melee is one of the more end intensive sets, along with Battle Axe and Stone Melee?

 

I have not found Stone Melee to be that bad, but Rad Melee is definitely up there (got 2 50s with it, and both struggled until I found solutions).

[Shadowstormprime]

I’m curious: what changed about IG in Rad Melee that made it worse?

[Maelwys]

1 hour ago, Shadowstormprime said:

I’m curious: what changed about IG in Rad Melee that made it worse?

 

Because Irradiated Ground is not technically coded as a traditional toggle but instead a pseudopet with a constantly refreshing AoE effect, any procs slotted into it used to get a chance to tick that was much more often than once every 10 seconds. This was "corrected".

[Shadowstormprime]

6 hours ago, Maelwys said:

 

Because Irradiated Ground is not technically coded as a traditional toggle but instead a pseudopet with a constantly refreshing AoE effect, any procs slotted into it used to get a chance to tick that was much more often than once every 10 seconds. This was "corrected".

Fair enough. I assume this hurt it's AOE dmg quite a bit. Would you say it is better to use a tradtional set in it now instead of proc-bombing it?

[Maelwys]

47 minutes ago, Shadowstormprime said:

Would you say it is better to use a tradtional set in it now instead of proc-bombing it?

Depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

It's quite rare that slotting a full 6-piece set is worth it in any power... but using lots of damage procs in toggles (IR basically acts as one now in terms of proc activation) generally performs pretty poorly. So frankenslotting them (to minimize its enhancement slots) or using them as a mule to chase a particular set bonus tends to be a better idea - particularly with IO Sets that have lots of inherent +recharge% aspect because local recharge slotting doesn't negatively impact proc activation rate in them.

However for AFK-farming (which I mention because Rad Melee is the premier offensive powerset for it!) you'll definitely still want a proc or three in IG. Such as Fury of the Gladiator -Res and/or Achilles Heel and/or the Tanker/Brute ATOs.

[Shadowstormprime]

1 hour ago, Maelwys said:

Depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

It's quite rare that slotting a full 6-piece set is worth it in any power... but using lots of damage procs in toggles (IR basically acts as one now in terms of proc activation) generally performs pretty poorly. So frankenslotting them (to minimize its enhancement slots) or using them as a mule to chase a particular set bonus tends to be a better idea - particularly with IO Sets that have lots of inherent +recharge% aspect because local recharge slotting doesn't negatively impact proc activation rate in them.

However for AFK-farming (which I mention because Rad Melee is the premier offensive powerset for it!) you'll definitely still want a proc or three in IG. Such as Fury of the Gladiator -Res and/or Achilles Heel and/or the Tanker/Brute ATOs.

This is great info, thanks. How would you say Rad Melee fairs in general content, outside of farms? I kind of dig it's combo of stacking - res as well as bringing a heal.

[Maelwys]

1 hour ago, Shadowstormprime said:

This is great info, thanks. How would you say Rad Melee fairs in general content, outside of farms? I kind of dig it's combo of stacking - res as well as bringing a heal.

 

It's decidedly middle of the pack in terms of AoE damage, and near the bottom in terms of Single Target damage.

 

It's not the worst set out there, but the best you can say about it is that it's got a decent amount of utility.